Blues lose £68m – and that’s without yesterday

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CHELSEA’S £71m deadline-day splurge came as the club announced losses of more than £68m for last year. The Blues yesterday released their results, which had been expected last month, for the financial year ending June 2010, the season in which they won the Double.

Despite their success they made an operating loss of £68.6m, slightly down from the previous year’s £72.3m, and a total loss of £70.9m.

Chelsea’s group turnover grew to £205.8m, from £203.3m, thanks to Premier League and FA Cup wins, while net capital expenditure was down from £15.5m to £4.2m, with the drop attributed to player sales.

The losses cast doubt on the club’s ability to meet European rules, set to be activated next season, designed to force clubs to break even.

But Chelsea cited its “positive cash inflow” of £3.8m and blamed the vast discrepancy between that figure and their operating loss on amortisation – the declining value of a player on a balance sheet as their contract elapses.

Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: “The club is in a strong position to meet the challenges of ‘financial fair play’ initiatives which will be relevant to the financial statements to be released in early 2013.”